Massive landslide in Sikkim leads to washing away of road, tourists stranded

Digital Desk: The situation continues to be critical in Sikkim. After severe rains and landslides, almost 2000 tourists and drivers are still stranded in Sikkim. The North Sikkim district continues to remain cut off from the rest of the state as a road linked to the Mangan district with other districts washed away after a landslide.

The incident has highlighted Mangan's susceptibility to natural calamities by disrupting transportation and cutting it off from nearby regions. 

 

The local government is assessing the damage and allocating resources to bring connectivity back as quickly as possible.

 

As this is going on, the Border Roads Organization (BRO) is working tirelessly to restore connectivity to North Sikkim, which has been severely impacted by continuous rainfall since June 11. 

Due to the excessive rainfall, several routes leading to North Sikkim, such as Dikchu-Sanklang-Toong, Mangan-Sanklang, Singtham-Rangrang, and Rangrang-Toong, saw multiple landslides and formation breaches, cutting off access to the area. The key link connecting North Sikkim and the Dzongu region, a freshly built suspension bridge at Sanklang, collapsed, making the situation worse. 

 

There were between 1,200 and 1,500 tourists stranded in North Sikkim as a result of multiple blockages.

 

In response, the BRO moved quickly to clear the landslides along several routes with hundreds of workers and heavy machinery. The Sanklang-Toong route is now accessible for light vehicle traffic after many slides were cleaned. Additionally, the Mangan-Chungthang road segment between Naga and Lanthakhola was made traffic-free.